The story of Otto Von Katz starts with his rescue of a human.

Otto named his human, Here. As in; stay Here. Stop Here. Feed Me Here. In a move outside the code of Von Katz, Otto gave Here the family name. Here Von Katz. Their relationship grew over the years. Here, performed dutifully every day. His attention and loyalty never waning. He was, although naked and quite unattractive to a cat’s way of thinking, a Von Katz in action and intent.

Otto and his rescue, Here, lived well. No cat wars required Otto to deploy for battle, so Otto put all his excellence in the battle of living with a human, among other humans. There were days the couch barely made up for the burden. There were days Otto stood tall at his food bowl knowing it was empty, and with great fanfare smashed it against a wall, for Here. In celebration of their relationship. A gong rang in celebration.

And then the Infiltrator showed up with a Chihuahua.

Adapt. Modify. Persevere. The military code of Von Katz demanded no less. Otto let Paco the Chihuahua understand how he, the dog, would persevere, adapt, and modify if he, the dog, wanted to survive.

Otto Von Katz recognized the thing called love between his human Here and the Infiltrator. Love starts wars. Ends wars. Placates Kings and rips the souls out of living beings. Love is also blind and invisible at the same time. General Otto Von Katz knew when a battle was best left on the field. Here was far too distracted by the Infiltrator. And at his age, Otto Von Katz just didn’t have the energy.

As time passed Otto Von Katz, Here Von Katz, Paco the dog, and the Infiltrator grew into a fine example of chaos through perseverance. Otto had finally reconciled with the Infiltrator and gave it the name, Now. As in; not Now. Go, Now. Feed Me, NOW.

It was at this time that Here and Now added a street urchin feline named Thug Rose to the family. Thug Rose grew up on the streets a wild thing. Thug allowed Here and Now to rescue her because she was tired of not having slaves. Although Otto Von Katz found her rough around the edges, he could not argue with Thug Rose’s logic.

It was some time later, but not later enough, Here and Now added two more dogs, Juno and Luna, to the persevering family. Juno and Luna allowed Here and Now to adopt them because they didn’t have anything better to do.

Such is the way of the Old English Bulldog. Keep Calm and Knock Things Over.

Otto now sits at the top of his Von Katz tree surveying bowling balls crashing into walls, because there is no other way to describe two Old English Bulldogs that have no control over their bodies. They careen rather than walk. Otto glances down to Thug Rose dripping off the side of the Von Katz tree, unconscious and disinterested in appearance.

Otto admires the defiant Paco, standing tall on the couch, growling fierce admonitions to the crashing bowling balls. A fatal mistake on his part. Eventually, they crash into the couch, knocking over an old, very irritated Chihuahua. Civil war threatens. Otto Von Katz appreciates the fierce Paco, ready for battle or a nap. Always ready. He would have made a great general.

The End …

Or not, you can find more tales of tails in my books. Otto’s tale is in the fourth of the series, Musings of the Day. Which you can find on Amazon, or on my website. Every tail has their own tale to tell. I know, I’m their ghostwriter.